Trump’s ‘Reciprocal Tariffs’: Liberation Day or Political Theater?

An investigative deep dive into the data, political motives, and global fallout of Trump’s sweeping new tariff policy.

President Donald Trump marked April 2, 2025 as what he triumphantly called “Liberation Day,” unveiling a sweeping new tariff regime in a Rose Garden ceremony. Flanked by American flags, he held up a large chart listing dozens of nations alongside two columns of figures – one labeled “Tariffs Charged to the U.S.A., Including Currency Manipulation and Trade Barriers,” and the other “U.S.A. Discounted Reciprocal Tariffs.” On the chart, countries like China were shown as charging the U.S. an alleged 67% combined tariff-and-barrier rate, to which the U.S. would respond with a “discounted” 34% tariff. The European Union was listed at 39% versus a new U.S. tariff of 20%, Vietnam 90% versus 46%, and so on. Trump declared a 10% baseline tariff on all imports – even those from longstanding allies – and higher rates on “the worst offenders,” vowing that “the days of America being ripped off are over”. It was a dazzling show of economic nationalism. But behind the patriotic stagecraft and bold nu…